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"He was extremely unfortunate to live in the same block as Hussain Osman. He was desperately unfortunate to look like Hussain Osman."

She said when he came out of the building a surveillance officer had been "indisposed" meaning he was only able to get a short glance at the suspect.

Mr de Menezes did not wait long at a bus stop which meant another surveillance officer could also not get a good look.

Ms Dick added: "Some of the things that Mr de Menezes did in all innocence, the way he behaved coming on and off the bus, contributed to our assessment, my assessment, of him as a bomber from the day before and somebody who might be intent on causing another explosion today.

"He had the tragic misfortune to enter the same Tube station that three of the bombers had entered the day before.

"So lots of things happened, any one of those you might describe as went wrong.

"If you ask me whether I think anybody did anything wrong or unreasonable in the operation, I don't think they did."

"It's a tragedy, an awful tragedy."

Mr de Menezes' mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, 63, flew in from Brazil and attended the inquest for the first time today to hear Ms Dick give evidence.

The inquest has heard that Ms Dick was the "decision-maker" in the control room as the fast-moving operation unfolded.

She was praised last week for her "outstanding" handling of the situation by the officer in charge of the manhunt for the men who attacked London the previous day.